Los Angeles city employees would have to take more than a month of furlough days in the next fiscal year under a $6.9 billion budget proposed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday, but many workers could avoid furloughs by agreeing to defer pay raises and increase health-care contributions.

The police and fire departments would take the largest hits, a combined $154 million in cuts, in the proposed budget, which is actually a 2.3 percent increase over the current year’s budget. In an effort to close a $457.5 million deficit, the mayor is calling for 26 furlough days for city workers who will not get cost-of-living raises as part of their contracts, and 36 furloughs days for employees scheduled to get raises.

“This budget charts a course. It gives us a path to stabilize our city’s revenues and expenditures in the midst of this financial crisis,” Villaraigosa said. “And it gives our employees the opportunity to end furloughs.”

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